After recovery to restore point, Windows 7 missing pinned items and favorites

I believe a recent windows update was interrupted. The next day, I could not logon and was presented with the error "User Profile Service service failed the logon. User profile cannot be loaded".

I followed some advice from http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_vista-security/help-user-profile-service-service-failed-the-logon/4ed66b21-c23e-42f1-98b2-706dcf931fae and logged in with a different admin account and used system restore to restore to a recent restore point. Most everything is working fine, but I have noticed two odd things:

Any items that were pinned to my start menu or task bar were not accessible. I had to un-pin and re-pin the items.
In Windows Explorer, my favorites are gone and I can't seem to add any favorites. If I browse to a folder and right click on the Favorites Icon and select "add current location to favorites" nothing is saved.

I'd appreciate any explanation to understand why these things did not get recovered properly and any help fixing the favorite functionality.

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Michael Levy

Posted 2011-04-19T14:29:11.563

Reputation: 1 480

Have you reapplied the failed windows update? – Moab – 2011-04-19T15:33:55.050

Yes, I reapplied the windows update. – Michael Levy – 2011-04-19T15:45:33.103

In explorer is the Libraries icon there? If it is right click on it and select "restore default libraries" – Moab – 2011-04-19T17:51:42.577

More information on Libraries here...http://superuser.com/questions/30754/how-to-remove-libraries-from-windows-7-explorer

– Moab – 2011-04-19T17:54:49.640

I tried "Restore default libraries" and "Restore favorite links" but neither made a noticeable change. – Michael Levy – 2011-04-19T19:01:58.517

Answers

For unable to add favorites, I found http://www.sevenforums.com/general-discussion/21314-cant-add-favorites-windows-explorer.html and an answer in the thread worked for me. mtek81 said:

Simple way to fix this, create a folder in your document (C:\Users\*YourUsername*) called Links, then restart your computer. your problem is mostly caused by accidentally deleting the Links folder hence the system doesn't know where to save the favorites.

This worked for me and seems to have fixed my broken favorite functionality. I then right clicked on Favorites and selected "Restore Favorite Links" and I can now manage my favorites again.

Michael Levy

Posted 2011-04-19T14:29:11.563

Reputation: 1 480

In explorer, right click on "Libraries" (in the left column) and select "restore default libraries"

(originally suggested by Moab in a comment)

Willberforce Davidoff Morrizzi

Posted 2011-04-19T14:29:11.563

Reputation: 1